Dustin Wolf’s second career shutout lifts Calgary Flames over Florida Panthers

CALGARY – Mikael Backlund had a goal and an assist and rookie goalie Dustin Wolf made 32 stops for his second shutout as the Calgary Flames beat the Florida Panthers 3-0 on Saturday.

Nazem Kadri and Blake Coleman also scored for Calgary (15-11-5), which had given up 21 goals in its previous four games, including eight against Tampa Bay on Thursday. The Flames improve to 7-1-1 in their last nine home games.

Florida (18-11-2) was shut out for the second straight game, and it’s coming up a year to the day that last happened. The reigning Stanley Cup champions have lost back-to-back games on the heels of a seven game streak.

Wolf snapped a three-game losing skid in which he had given up 14 goals. He improves to 9-5-1 and leads the league among rookies in wins.

Spencer Knight made 24 stops at the other end. He drops to 5-5-1.

The only goal Calgary needed came 8:57 into the first period when Kadri took the puck from Dmitry Kulikov in his own zone and on the ensuing breakaway went backhand to forehand on a nifty layup.

TAKEAWAYS

Panthers: Florida, 4-0 in Vancouver on Thursday, has played 146:01 since their last goal, which came in the second period against Seattle in the opener of their five-game road trip. That goal was scored by captain Aleksander Barkov, who was a scratch due to illness on Saturday. Florida started the day tied for fourth in the NHL in goals (106).

Flames: It was a solid bounceback effort from Calgary’s penalty kill Thursday against the Lightning, giving up three power-play goals on three chances. Down 1-0, Florida got consecutive power plays late in the first, but the Flames killed both. Contributing to those two kills was former Panther MacKenzie Weegar, who played in his 500th career NHL game.

KEY MOMENT

After the Flames had what appeared to be a two-goal cushion at 11:34 of the second erased when Backlund’s goal was waved off on video review to be kicked in, the same line hit Calgary with 55 seconds left in the other. Matt Coronato made it 2-0 and set up Coleman, who beat Knight between his pads.

KEY STAT

Wolf continues his extreme splits between home and road. The 23-year-old has been outstanding at the Scotiabank Saddledome going 8-1-0 with a .949 save percentage and a pair of shutouts. On the road, he is 1-4-1 with a .862 save percentage.

UP NEXT

Panthers: Visit the Edmonton Oilers on Monday.

Flames: Host the Boston Bruins on Tuesday.

This report from The Canadian Press was first published on December 14, 2024.